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Hooterville
38 is for my helper our rate is 55hr for g/stores. My comp charges 52hr. That all the trafic will bare.
You are up their with all the chains I'm down here with all the mom & pop stores. There is a difference I'm not hurting you. You wouldn't want to work on this 40 to 50 yr old junk. Some stores don't have racks yet.

I became for the first time aware of rates at about the age of 14. I am 30. At 14 I was just understanding what a dollar was truly worth. Let alone what the old man charged per hour for his business. That was 1987-88. His rate then was $75 and $80 an hour. The trade has not moved forward in this arena for ever. It's 2004. Alomost 2005. There is no reason why anyone should be charging under $125.00 an hour. It drives me bonkers to not be able to. This trade, this industry needs to get rid of a$$ crack heating, cooling and refrigeration types and get on with moving forward.

I understand your in the booney's. I aint mad at you. I am mad at the fact thats all traffic will bear. Isn't that nuts?

If i charged 125hr I wouldn't be in business next month.
I would love to charge that much I'm over 50 and been doing service call for 30t yrs. I can only charge as much as my comp or they will have it all.

I had lunch with the owner's step son last week. He sounded like a man who was interested in moving forward into work which would pay us more money.

He said the HVAC people got together some time ago and moved up theri pricing. But the low temp guys have never done so.
He said it is ridiculous to have such well trained men and women in an industry and yet NOT be able to properly compensate us for our work.

He said maybe if we got into some induistrial work, we could earn more money.
He would like to see the company move in that direction.

We are getting a four HUNDRED percent increase in oil production out of Iraq right now, yet the price of oil has steadily risen.

We service techs have had to endure more crap than even the medical profession, (now THERE is an oxi-moron for you...), plumbers, electricians, ... even cab drivers! And yet, we are paid whatever someone feels they can charge.

Whatever the market will bear is an old term used to describe supply and demand.
Only dif is, with us ... we are not being brought into the loop as far as what we want from a job or from this industry.

And this sucks! BIG TIME!!!

Some wise man in another thread, asked the question; "What do you want from your employer?"

One guy, acting as a smart ass, said; "World Peace".

I mean, here is someone asking the question an employer NEVER ever asks employee's. NEVER EVER!!!

And someone says something silly like that! Gads!

Me ... what did I say? I spoke my mind. I "Did the Dow".

I really dont like how political unions have been over the last nearly one hundred years. They have acted shamefully over the years.
It's truly disgraceful.
But without something like a union here, we are pretty much doomed to receiving exactly what we are presently getting for compensation for our labors. And this is needless.
We are much too intelligent for this to continue to take place.

Originally posted by s tek I hired another tech 2 weeks ago he has assoc degree 3yrs g/store exp I started him at 15hr plus 5% parts he sells, I charge 38 for him.

It bothers me to hear that a mechanics pay might be based in part to how many parts he sells. Opens the door up for a lot of abuse. Pay them a fair wage and share the company profits if you want, but don't put the customer in the middle of how much the mechanic can make.

Originally posted by frozensolid I am a Union Mechanic in a non union state. I am compensated well for my labors. But the most valuable part of being a union man, you don't lose your benefits if you change jobs.

You don't have to hope your kids don't get sick, before your insurance kicks back in.

I have worked union, and non-union. Union is better. Better pay, better benefits, better conditions.

Union Mechanics have to be highly skilled. No one is going to pay big bucks, to a guy who can't perform. Not down here in Florida anyway.

I agree!!!!I have 27 years in with the union.I worked 1.5 years in Idaho at a non union shop. They treated me and the others good, but the benneis were not near the same. Had to co-pay for medical and no preovisions for pension at all. Had some other quirky things like subsistance when you were out of town. Max they would pay was 40/day. well try to find a bed and food for 40/day anywhere in the real world. Plus the 40/day was only good for 5 days a week, so if you stayed out for two weeks you lost 2 days a week in subsistance. yeh that made sense to me so I only did that one time.
Quick learner.
Union gives you a set of rules that everyone has to obey. employer can not pick favorites based on the nose in the rear.

I am new here so please keep this in mind. The following is not bragging nor am I jumping on anyone no matter how it sounds. Please read below knowing I have only the best of intensions.

This September I will have 30 years in the business, the last 15 years owning my own business. I do not think I am the smartest or best in the industry in Atlanta but we as a collective are some of the best-in-class. I do know that I treat my customers (all huge foodservice types) very well, but I treat my employees better. I am still out there turning wrenches and sniffing refrigerant right by their side then coming home and doing the paperwork until midnight or later. I have the aching bones and pacemaker to prove it. If they need to attend to family or doctor’s appointments or just need a day off they have my blessing and we all take up the slack very willingly as it could be "you" the next day.

I run a small 5 man shop that has to cover one of the heaviest traffic areas in the Nation. We waste at least 2.5 hours each a day just in traffic jams and part running. We have over 600 customers that give us around 20 calls a day. From out most outlaying southern area customer to the most outlaying northern area customer is about 2 hours or more in traffic… we charge 30 minutes in travel and $17.00 for gas and truck.

With that said, here is my point. All of my guys from my least experienced to my most valuable oldest technician make a salary that ranges from 40k to 60k + benefits and other tax overhead. I do not pay overtime. They collect 50% of the labor when they bill out overtime and they love it. Yes, they do a recall without being paid if need be. But I will not send a technical away from his family on weekends or after a hard day in Atlanta without paying them very well if the company gets paid. So if he bills out $500.00 in labor he gets $250.00 and most of that money is earned by driving. Today one of my guys walked away with 7 hours of holiday double-time labor making $504.00 before taxes.

Our labor rates are $72.00 an hour to our customers which is about average. You can find as high as $90.00 or more for the same business in this area. Commercial Foodservice HVAC, Refrigeration and Cooking Equipment repairs, little to no installs. They help me keep our overhead down and my office has been in my home for 15 years. Oh yeah, I make the same rate as they do but I don’t get overtime when their babysitter can’t come. I am here to help them as they are hired to help me. I am one that takes care of his employees to endless points.

I pay my bills in 30 days or less. I pay my employees every week. I pay the feds and all of my other taxes on time. I also don’t get paid when the service is slow and these bills are due. When my guys only bill out 60% of what it takes to run this business they still make the same pay. When our customers don’t pay their bills on time, I don’t get paid. When we have a good month I will make up my pay then if I can.

I can’t say this for every business owner across the Nation. My guys are my most important commodity then the customers. I am an old technician that got tired of being paid peanuts and did something about it. I jumped from the boiling pot into the fire without looking… but guys, I wouldn’t have it any other way.